European shares pare losses to turn flat

LONDON (Reuters) - European shares pared earlier losses to turn flat on Tuesday, with gains in telecom stocks offsetting declines in financial and mining shares.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index was flat at 1,161.45 points by 0853 GMT, having initially opened down by around 0.1 percent.

The STOXX 600 European telecoms sector rose 0.8 percent, helped by a 2.6 percent rise in Vodafone with traders citing fresh speculation that U.S. group Verizon could buy Vodafone's stake in Verizon Wireless.

Central Markets senior broker Joe Neighbour said many investors remained upbeat on equities.